Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.

(Egypt) is a great place for contrasts: splendid things gleam in the dust.

Writing history is like drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful.

One mustn't always believe that feeling is everything. In the arts, it is nothing without form.

I like prostitution. My heart has never failed to pound at the sight of one of those provocatively dressed women walking in the rain under the gaslamps, just as the sight of monks in their robes and girdles touches some ascetic, hidden corner of my soul.

One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.

What seems to me the highest and the most difficult achievement of Art is not to make us laugh or cry, or to rouse our lust or our anger, but to do as nature does-that is, fill us with wonderment.